


Dodging Lessons

by MortuaryBee



Series: The Only Hope For Me Is A High School AU [3]
Category: Bandom, Music RPF, My Chemical Romance, Real Person Fiction
Genre: Alternate Universe - Art School, Alternate Universe - High School, Art School, Bullying, Gen, High School, Homophobic Language, Jocks, M/M, Nerds vs Jocks, Pre-Band, Pre-MCR, nerds, ray is a good dude
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-26
Updated: 2019-12-26
Packaged: 2021-02-26 11:21:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 962
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21968512
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MortuaryBee/pseuds/MortuaryBee
Summary: Gerard and Ray are in gym class together. Nerds Vs. Jock art school dodge ball.
Relationships: Ray Toro & Gerard Way, Ray Toro/Gerard Way
Series: The Only Hope For Me Is A High School AU [3]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1575889
Comments: 1
Kudos: 10





	Dodging Lessons

Ray exits the locker room in a hurry. “Yo! Sorry I’m late.” He jogs to catch up with Gerard. “Talked to Reznor about variant chord structures from combining different scales for like ten minutes.”

“Get anything good?” Gerard asks in between stretches.

Ray nods. “Gotta start taking the middle notes out. It’s the shit.” 

“Cool! More mid range for me to steal. We’ll do more with it tonight.”

Ray joins in on putting a minimal amount of effort into the stretches to stall for time. “How’d the test go?”

“D+” Gerard mumbles.

“Fuck yea,” Rays saysexclaims. In his excitement he picks Gerard up in a hug and spins him around.

Gerard laughs despite his frustration. “It’s a fucking D+.”

Ray puts him down but keeps a tight grip on his shoulders. “How are you not excited about no summer school? It’s a goddamn graduation!” 

Ray leans back to show Gerard his smile. The genuineness of it receives another smile in return. “Thanks.”

The conversation is cut short bywith a shrill stab of a whistle scraping through their ears. 

“Quit stalling! Get over here,” calls Mr. Manson, beckoning them towards the middle of the room. 

Mansons notices another student, large and clearly athletic, not paying attention. He rolls his eyes and waves a hand in front of the kid to no avail. Giving up what little subtlety he has left Manson grabs a classic hot pink dodge ball out of one of the bags full bags of them he found in the supply closet attached to the locker room. He wastes no time before throwing itone, fast and forceful, into the jock’s side from across the room.

“Hey beefcake, against the wall.”

Another student sees this as an opportunity theythat can’t be given up. 

“That’s what she sai-“” 

Tthe thwack of plastic against skin cuts off the rest of the jokephrase.

“If I hit you, against the wall. And pick up your ball. You’re on team two.”

Ray and Gerard lock eyes before they and the remaining students breaking off like the rest of their classmates to avoid being hit.

Manson picks out all the popular kids like the inner workings of the high school’s social hierarchy wais a pile of rancid, parasitic meat. He throws eachthe balls unnecessarily hard asnd they line up against the wall like there’s a firing squad present. He gives Gerard, Ray, and the rest of the misfits and social outcasts the remaining balls.

“Have at it.”

“This is weird... “ acknowledges Ray while picking a ball from the mesh sack on the ground in front of them.

“Yeah. Too bad he’s a fucking substitute.” Gerard takes a second to decide who he wants to try and hit before balls start flying around him. “Don’t really understand why they just gave him extra hours as the gym teacher instead of hiring an actual gym teacher, but I’m not complaining so far.” 

“Laziness? It’s cheaper?” Ray shrugs and narrowly misses a clearly enraged football player. “I dunno. He seems better at teaching vocals.”

“Who cares? At least I get to play this time.” 

Gerard tries to peg Pete Wentz in the face, but Wentz catches it and throws it back, pegging him in the face. He’s the first person hit. 

“Goddamnit!”

Mr. Manson blows his whistle and points at Pete. “You’re benched Wentz.”

“What the fuck? Why?”

“No headshots! This isn’t Halo.”

“Ugh. Lame!” He stomps off to the out of bounds area closest to the jocks.

The jJocks and other popular guys strategically run back and forth on their side of the gymnasium. They’re desperate to avoid failure at the hands of those they consider inferior and to maintain their place in the emotional bloodbath that is high school.

Ray misses a lot but eventually pegs Patrick Stump in the chest. “Ha!” He’s hit and out of the game mid exclamation. “Aw.”

He shuffles over to the sidelines to cheer Gerard on since he’s no longer a player. 

“Yea, Gee! Kick their asses.”

Gerard responds without taking his eyes off the game. 

“You fucking know it!” 

His grin disappears as two balls fly past his head at once. 

“What?, Wwait!” 

He barely gets a chance to glance around before he has to dodge again. He’s not the only player left on his team, but he is the main target. 

“Aw, come on.” 

“Boo! That’s not fair,” agrees Ray. 

Mr. Manson doesn’t seem to notice, being too distracted with the conversation he’s having on the wall phone near the main door to the gym. 

More balls come hurtling towards him in groups of two and then three, never ceasing long enough for him to grab one from the floor around him for retaliation. 

“This is some rigged shit. What the hell?” 

Balanced on one leg and barely able to keep upright, someone finally hits himhe’s finally hit. He flips off the same people he’s been flipping off for the past four years. 

“Yeah, fuck all you too!”

Some other kid laughs. It always hurts more than Gerard expects it to, and it never gets easier to hear.

“Whatever, gaywad.” He gestures between Gerard and Ray. “Go fuck your boyfriend you must be on your period or someshit.”

Ray comes up behind Gerard ready to fight. 

“The fuck did you just call him?”

Gerard rolls his eyes and turns towards the locker room. 

“Let’s just go.” 

Ray stays and glares the lead teen down. The kid has a shit eating sneer that says nothing of his eyes. They’re dim like the wick of life was cut too short, too soon, and stuck forever unlit. Voids filled with resentment and something to reenact. Eventually Ray relents and joins Gerard instead of further engaging him. 

“Yeah, they aren’t worth detention.”

“Almost nothing is.”


End file.
